While Escobar apparently had yet to earn the Rockies' respect Sunday, at least until the final inning, he's already getting the praise of teammates around the Atlanta locker room.

"He's overcoming a language barrier," said third baseman Chipper Jones.

"He's a good kid, very passionate about the game."

The value of Escobar, who's hitting .331 so far this year, rose for the Braves on Friday, when the team placed starting shortstop Edgar Renteria on the 15-day disabled list.

"He's been dynamite all year long," manager Bobby Cox said of Escobar. "He's as tough as they come."

Escobar delivered the final blow in a game that had gone back and forth all day.

Colorado's Ryan Spilborghs started the scoring in the second with a solo home run to right.

Atlanta got on the board in the fourth when Escobar singled home Jones with two outs in the inning.

But the Rockies returned fire in the fifth with Spilborghs' second home run and a potential rally that ended when right fielder Jeff Francoeur gunned down Troy Tulowitzki at the plate.

The Braves took the lead in the bottom of the inning with a two-run homer from Jones before Colorado knocked Atlanta starter Chuck James out of the game in the sixth with a walk and a pair of singles that scored Jamey Carroll.

After the game, both James and Cox both suggested the umpire's strike zone was flexible.

"That strike zone today was slipping and sliding every which way," Cox said.

Tyler Yates followed James and surrendered a run-scoring double to Garrett Atkins before ending the inning.

The Braves retook the lead in the bottom of the sixth, when backup catcher Corky Miller hit his first double in more than five years to score Matt Diaz. Miller would late score on Willie Harris' double to put Atlanta ahead, 5-4.

The Rockies tied the game in the seventh when Carroll tripled off of new Braves reliever Octavio Dotel and Todd Helton singled, scoring Carroll. It was the second rough outing in a row for Dotel, who gave up an ultimately meaningless grand slam in Atlanta's win Saturday.

It took Escobar's late-inning heroics to make sure the seventh-inning run also proved meaningless.

"Just how I drew it up in my mind," Jones joked after the game.

The win improves the Braves' record in extra inning games this year to 4-7 and gave Atlanta a win in both series of the six-game homestand, which also included a three-game set with Houston. The Braves took two games in both series.

"We'll take 4-2 the rest of the year," Cox said.

On that, most of the clubhouse seemed to agree.

"If that continues, I think this will be a real fun October for us," Diaz said.

Brandon Larrabee can be reached at brandon.larrabee@morris.com or (678) 977-3709.